If it Happened | We Covered it

December 6, 2017December 6, 2017

Former President Barack Obama Tweets of Love Were Among The Most Popular

Twitter recently announced their annual list of the most popular tweets, moments and hashtags for the past year. I know what you’re thinking. Donald Trump had to be on that list in some way, right? Well, a U.S. president was responsible for many of the most “liked” and retweeted posts of the year, but it wasn’t President Trump. You guessed it. Barack Obama was the author of those tweets. Obama was responsible for three of the top ten most retweeted tweets of the year. Including the one which he posted the weekend of the “Unite the Right” white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va. He had a series of tweets, but his first one was “no one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion…”

What were the other tweets that made it into the top ten? A teenager who tried to get a free year’s worth of chicken nuggets from Wendy’s was the most retweeted tweet of the year. But Obama’s were certainly heartfelt. In July, when we found out that Senator John McCain was fighting Cancer, Obama tweeted: “John MCain is an American hero & one of the bravest fighters I’ve ever known. Cancer doesn’t know what it’s up against. Give it hell, John.” Both of these Obama tweets give me goosebumps as I type them. Why? Because they are so heartfelt and genuine. Think about it from a political perspective. McCain and Obama aren’t on the same team, and yet, he is still publically wishing McCain success. How many people do you know who would do that?

Before moving onto the current president, I would like to continue on with this idea a bit more. Barack Obama doesn’t have to tweet anything. He has no obligation to the American people in any kind of way. Yet, he tweets when he needs to. He tweets about things that matter. Things that are relevant to the country. He was the president who represented “hope”, and he still does. He gives people the feeling that there are still good things in the world.

Trump did make the list, but not in the way that he probably wanted to. PBS’s live coverage of Trump’s inauguration was the most-watched live stream of the year. Trump was the most tweeted about “elected world leader”. Putting him ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Twitter was filled with political animosity this past year. In fact, the top four most popular hashtags in the United States were:

#Resist

#MAGA

#ImpeachTrump

TrumpTrain

If you are wondering who and what else made the list. The most tweeted about TV show was Game of Thrones. The most tweeted about movie was Wonder Woman. LeBron James gets the award for the most retweeted athlete when he called Donald Trump a ”bum”. That was kind of funny. @PennStateIFC took the third spot for most retweeted as they pledged $0.15 for every retweet they received. And they got a lot. 2017 was crazy for so many different reasons, but I am happy to see that Barack Obama’s tweets, which were filled with love and compassion were included in the highlights.